


Red Water

by YouDontKnow (akirachan98)



Series: Rivamika Family [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Blood, Children, Choking, Dreams, F/M, Family, Horror, Nightmares, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24593764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akirachan98/pseuds/YouDontKnow
Summary: "Levi?"He turned around and looked into the eyes of Mikasa, who was standing in the doorway as if in shock."Mikasa! It's over!" He took a step towards her, but stopped when she backed away from him, frightened. Was she afraid of him? "Mikasa, what's wrong? It's...""What have you done?!" The scream Mikasa let out made Levi's blood freeze in his veins.
Relationships: Mikasa Ackerman/Levi
Series: Rivamika Family [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777768
Comments: 7
Kudos: 59





	Red Water

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been written very hastily overnight and feels a little bit like that for me, but I hope you like it anyway!  
> It is not necessary to have read "Number Two" before, but for the whole setting it is highly recommended.

Red Water

It dawned and only the Captain's hurried steps could be heard. He hurried panting through the streets of Stohess without really knowing why. He knew only one thing and that was that he had to get to his house as fast as possible. It was a feeling that drove him on, a foreboding of something terrible. He didn't know why, but the city seemed to be deserted, almost spooky. On his way he did not meet a single soul who could have helped him.

The unpleasant feeling in his stomach became stronger with every hasty step. His lungs burned as he suddenly stopped in front of the steps to his house. He could not see any light through the windows, although Mikasa and the children should have been home by now. Just as he was about to take the stairs up to the front door, he noticed that the door had opened a crack. Immediately his instinct kicked in and he pushed the door open just a small gap so he could see inside. It was hard for him to make anything out in the darkness and so he only listened for a suspicious noise. And indeed, he could perceive hasty steps and shattering glass.

Levi thought intensively about how to proceed, but he always came to the same decision. He did not know what was going on in his house and what was going on with his family. He had to do something immediately and so he opened the door a little further so that he could push himself in quietly. Now that he was standing in the hallway he recognized a little more in the darkness than before. He looked at the dining table, normally surrounded by six chairs. He recognized that some of them were lying on the floor, upside down. Carefully and ducked, he ventured a few steps into the room to make sure that no one was present. But as soon as he entered the dining area, his attention was drawn to something else. Through the open wall he could see two shadows in the living room. One seemed to belong to a tall man who had turned his back to him. The other resembled the stature of Mikasa, she seemed to cower on the floor and did not move.

At once Levi took hasty steps towards the living room. With every meter he could sense the situation better and his most terrible fears became a certainty. He looked into the frightened eyes of his wife and heard the dark voice of the intruder.

"Where is he?"

"I do not know!" It came in a fragile voice from Mikasa's mouth.

"Lie!" The man punched her in the face with quite a force.

An unbelievable rage rose up in Levi, and he took his final steps to throw himself on the man from behind. But just as he started, Mikasa's head shot up again and she stared into his eyes in horror.

"Levi!" she screamed with all her might, but it was already too late.

He felt a dull thump on his back and was thrown headfirst to the ground. The Captain heard wood splintering when he realized that someone had just punched one of the dining room chairs in his back. In a split second he rolled to the side as he was still lying on his stomach. Not a second too late, a knife shimmering in the moonlight had just drilled into the wood where his head had just been lying. Ignoring the pain in his back, he used the brief moment of surprise to sink his legs into the pit of the man's stomach with all his might. He now staggered backwards slightly dazed and banged his head against the dining table.

In the meantime Levi had managed to get up from the ground and pounced on the man who had threatened his wife just before. Only now did he realize that her hands were tied behind her back and she could not defend herself. He could clearly see a small trail of blood running down her temple. So she must have been beaten more than once. He took a few blows himself before he dominated his opponent. The fight became more and more brutal, because the two men now beat their opponent with all their strength. Levi was more than sure that his nose must have been at least broken, because he could hardly breathe through it anymore. He managed to get away from his opponent and threw himself on the knife, which was still stuck in the wooden floor. His opponent didn't seem to have noticed this, because he now also blindly threw himself on Levi and thus into the blade, which the smaller man had held in front of his body in a quick reaction.

"You little bastard!" was the only thing he managed to produce, still distorted with pain. Levi didn't hesitate and pulled the knife out of his opponent only to place it at his throat shortly afterwards. The blood, which now spread all over his white shirt, disgusted him, but now his concern was different. Hurriedly he stumbled to his wife to loosen her bonds.

"Levi!"

"Turn around now!" She did as she was told, and the black-haired man tampered with her bonds. They were so tight that it was no wonder Mikasa had been unable to free herself. While he was still busy with her bonds, he tried to calm his breathing a bit.

"Mikasa what happened? What about Farlan and Isabel?"

"I don't know! Those men want something from you! Oh, my God!" The thought of their children seemed to drive her crazy.

"Calm down." But just as Levi was about to release the last bonds, he felt a blow coupled with a stabbing pain in the right side of his head. He lost consciousness and fell to the ground. The man whom Levi had initially made incapable of fighting must have recovered and had now knocked a vase against his skull.

He was unable to move and only took in the muffled cries of his wife, who was desperately trying to bring him back to consciousness. He tried with all his strength but his body no longer obeyed him. He noticed how the man pulled him away from her and dragged him up the stairs with great effort. A stabbing pain flared up in his head as he kept hitting the stairs. His field of vision flickered and yet it remained blurred, he tried to gather all the strength he could to fight back. He felt himself being dropped to the ground at the end of the stairs, his body giving way to a painfully distorted groan as he hit the wood. He let his head fall to the side and had a view of the hallway and the doors that led off of it. He saw the man move away from him and limp into one of the rooms. Before his eyes, everything went on in slow motion until more voices came to his ears. He could hear more and more clearly and now he recognized their origin.

"Daddy!" It was the voices of his children, he could hear Farlan calling out for him desperately. He could also hear the loud crying of his daughter, who was too young to speak. It struck him like lightning and he regained the strength over his body. He stumbled to the door behind which one of the attackers had disappeared and discovered him at the same time. The two men faced each other, breathing heavily and bleeding. The intruder spat some blood aside before preparing for another attack.

"Damn... I see we have a tough one..." He started for a sprint and jumped on Levi again. He was still much too weak to avoid his attack and so both men broke through another door and landed hard on the ground. Levi immediately recognized which room they were in, for he spent quite a bit of time here. To his amazement, the light was on and he could see exactly that there was water in the bathtub. The man, who was also pulling himself up from the floor, could not act fast enough as Levi had already put him in a chokehold from behind. He put up a strong fight, but Levi did not let go. Even when he let himself fall backwards, Levi hit the ceramic of the tub. His shirt was now also soaked by water and the contents of the tub, which had previously been filled with crystal-clear water, turned red. One last time he strengthened the chokehold until the wriggling of his opponent's legs slowly weakened and his grip, the attempt to free his arm from his neck, was completely released. He remained in this position for a few more seconds to be sure this time his opponent would not get up again. As soon as he was sure, he pushed the body away and rose from the water into which he had fallen. He felt nothing but pain, which now had to stand in line. He still had no idea what had happened to his children and was now even more worried, for in the heat of the moment he had not noticed that a frightening silence had settled over the house again. Just as he was leaning against the door frame and breathing heavily, he saw another man coming towards him.

He did not know the reason, but he knew that this would be the last opponent. He stabilized his position, because he knew how weak he was already. It was wiser to wait for the attack of his opponent than to take the first step himself. Even though he had prepared himself for it, the first blow hit him with full force and he staggered back a few steps into the bathroom.

"Well who do we have here? If it isn't the master of the house himself!" A dirty laugh escaped his throat. Levi remained silent and tried to concentrate.

"We thought you'd never get home! But well, I spent the time with your children! They're really beautiful... it's such a shame they'll soon be orphans."

It was at that moment Levi realised what room the other man had just come from. It had been one of the children's rooms.

His body no longer obeyed him as he went furiously at his counterpart. He grabbed him by the neck and squeezed him with all his might. At first his opponent did not seem to be very impressed, because he still resisted with all his strength. But Levi didn't allow any more resistance and hit the man's head against the wall with all his might. He took advantage of the short moment of his dazed state and hit his head against an object again, but this time it was the edge of the bathtub, which was still filled with bloody water.

He intensified the grip around the man's neck once more and pushed his head under water. He could not explain why he was still alive after these hard blows. He also still resisted violently when Levi held his head under water. He could see how air bubbles came to the surface in his death struggle. The water, which his opponent kept spraying, hit Levi in the face and mixed with his own blood.

Just before exhaustion Levi screamed in despair. "Why won't you die already?!"

One last time he squeezed even harder than he thought was possible. It felt like his fingers were breaking. And suddenly he heard them again, the voices of his children. But something was strange. They were much too loud, as if they were right in his head and not in some other room. Slowly he noticed that he broke the resistance of his counterpart and he suddenly went limp. At that very moment the voices of his children also fell silent. Levi stared at the two lifeless bodies lying in the bathroom. The first was hanging over the edge of the tub and the second was swimming in it. He did not know what was happening with him, but he began to laugh. It was not a beautiful laugh; no it was the ugliest laugh that had ever come out of his mouth. He was still breathing heavily and raised his hands in the air to be able to pattern them better. They were only slightly reddened because the water had washed most of the blood away. It was different with his face, which was still covered with blood, but it didn't bother him anymore. He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a quiet voice behind him.

"Levi?"

He turned around and looked into the eyes of Mikasa, who was standing in the doorway as if in shock.

"Mikasa! It's over!" He took a step towards her, but stopped when she backed away from him, frightened. Was she afraid of him? "Mikasa, what's wrong? It's..."

"What have you done?!" The scream Mikasa let out made Levi's blood freeze in his veins. It was a desperation he had never heard before. She sank to the ground trembling and spoke as if in madness.

"What have you done... What have you done..."

The black-haired man did not know what had got into his wife, but she stared past him into the bathroom as if abandoned by all her senses. Slowly Levi turned around and felt the wet and bloody shirt sticking to his body. It was a moment of complete horror when he had turned around and could now look into the room.

The two dead men had disappeared and in their place lay Farlan and Isabel, his own children. He staggered back into the room as if drunk and lifted the lifeless body of his son out of the water, he also lifted his daughter up and looked into her wide open staring eyes that lacked any life. He pressed both of his children to his body and cried out in desperation as tears ran down his cheeks.

"What have I done? What have I done?"

"Levi!"

"Levi!"

"Levi, please wake up."

The black-haired man started to panic and breathed heavily. It took him a while to realise where he was and realise that it was all a dream. He was still panting heavily as Mikasa gently put one hand on his shoulder blade. He barely flinched when he felt the touch through the wet fabric of his shirt. His clothes were completely drenched in sweat and felt heavy and unbearable on his skin.

Slowly Mikasa approached her husband a little bit and tried to calm him down a bit.

"It was only a dream Levi. Everything's fine, do you understand?"

He was still breathing heavily, so he decided to just nod.

"I'm sorry I woke you up like that, but it just kept getting worse. I didn't want the little ones to wake up."

When she mentioned the children, Levi couldn't hold back and started making some painful noises. Just as Mikasa wanted to take him in her arms, he rejected her and stood up.

She was not hurt, Mikasa knew exactly that he wanted to be strong in front of her and did not want to show his tears. Even if it was still the middle of the night, he wanted nothing more than to wash the sweat from his body, because he knew that he couldn't fall asleep like that anymore. When Levi had left the bedroom, Mikasa thought about his words. She had noticed very well how he had changed when she had mentioned the children. She could already guess that it might have something to do with his dream. She too rose from their bed and made her way to her daughter's bedroom. She was now half a year old and slept peacefully in her little bed, which Levi had built by himself. Only a few weeks ago she had been sleeping in her parents' bedroom so that they could keep a better eye on their youngest.

Mikasa wondered if this might have been the reason for Levi's increased nightmares. He, too, had to get used to the fact that his daughter was no longer around him at night. Careful and not to wake Isabel, she lifted the little girl out of the crib. She went back and put her daughter into the big bed in which she had slept until a few minutes ago.

She set off again quietly, but this time to her son's room. Farlan lay in bed peacefully like his sister and seemed to sleep deeply. Gently she stroked some hair from his face before she lifted him up, too. The three-year-old was slightly awakened from his sleep. "Mommy?"

"Shhhh. Go back to sleep." She pressed a gentle kiss on his forehead and he fell back to sleep immediately. She placed him in the bed where Isabel was already sleeping peacefully. She watched the scene before her eyes for a moment and smiled softly. Her children were everything to her, she would never want to give them away. Even though it was hard for her, she broke away from the peaceful thoughts and took a pair of shorts and a T-shirt for Levi out of the closet. With the clothes she made her way to the bathroom, where she could clearly hear running water. She opened the door and thus gained a view of her husband. Levi stood under the stream of water with his night clothes on and did not move. He had leaned one of his arms and his head against the wall and stared into the void.

"Levi?" Mikasa, after she had put down the fresh clothes, approached him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Sorry, I'm coming." He looked into her eyes and she saw how reddened his own were. He turned the water off and pulled his wet top over his head. His dark hair hung in strands on his face, dripping the water they had absorbed onto the floor. Mikasa handed him a towel to dry them.

"I've brought you some clean clothes."

"Thank you."

After Levi had dried and changed, the two of them looked at each other for a moment. They took a few steps towards each other and closed their eyes. Levi put his forehead against his wife's and inhaled her scent.

"l..."

"Shhh. I know. You don't have to." Mikasa knew Levi couldn't talk about it right now and she didn't ask him to. "Let's go back to sleep." She interlocked one of her hands with his and pulled him gently behind her. It was dark, but they knew their house so well that they would have found the way blindly themselves. When Mikasa had closed the bedroom door behind them, she turned back to Levi, who stood in front of her bed as if rooted to the floor.

"It's all right. It will help you." She stroked his back one last time before laying herself down in the bed with her children. It was more than big enough for the family and so Levi forced himself to lie down again as well. Just as he was about to pull the blanket over his body again, he heard a soft murmur from his son's mouth.

"Daddy?" His little arms searched subconsciously for his father's body until they found him. He pressed his body against his father's and continued to sleep calmly. Carefully Levi put one arm around Farlan and held him tight, his steady breathing and heartbeat made him calm himself and he heard Mikasa whispering softly.

"You see, everything's all right."

He turned a little to the side to be able to look at her better, his gaze wandered over Farlan who was still lying gently in his arms, over Isabel who had her thumb in her mouth and made constant sucking movements up to the eyes of Mikasa. Even though it was dark, he could see her contours. She gave him a look that was so full of love that he almost felt bad. He stretched out his free arm towards her and put his hand on her cheek. She knew his gestures and needed no further words to know that this was how he thanked her. She took his hand and gently kissed his fingers before crossing hers with his. He laid his head on his pillow, but without letting his family out of his sight. They both drifted off into a light sleep, which this time remained dreamless. Only Isabel seemed to have other plans, because after a while she made whining noises that awakened Mikasa's maternal instinct.

The little one didn't seem to sleep as deeply as before, but she didn't want to let her mother calm her down. Slowly she lifted her daughter up and laid her on Levi's body, Levi instinctively put his free hand on her back and pressed her to himself. With the image of her sleeping husband holding her children in his arms, Mikasa was able to find a peaceful sleep with a smile on her lips. With no one, her children were better off than in the arms of their own father.


End file.
